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Porcini risotto

Antonio Carluccio from Market Kitchen
This dish is popular throughout northern Italy, especially in Piedmont, and is one of Antonio Carluccio's favourite dishes

Porcini risotto

Method

1. If you are using dried porcini, put them to soak in a small bowl of water for 15 minutes.

2. Gently clean the ceps using a sharp knife and a brush (avoid washing them wherever possible) then slice them.

3. Fry the onion in the oil and half the butter. When the onion begins to colour, add the sliced fresh mushrooms and continue to fry over a moderate heat for a couple of minutes. If using the dried porcini, chop them into small pieces and add to the mushrooms, keeping the water they soaked in to add to the risotto later with the stock.

4. Add the rice and cook for a minute or two, stirring, until it just turns translucent. Start to add the hot stock, ladleful by ladleful stirring all the time, letting it to absorb into the rice before adding the next.

5. After about 20 minutes, when the rice is al dente, remove from the heat. Season and stir in the remaining butter and the parmesan. Serve hot.

Cook's note: faced with the perennial problem of finding fresh ceps in generous quantities, you can use ordinary mushrooms plus a few dried porcini for extra taste. But this risotto is also eminently suitable for those wild mushrooms that you have gathered in season and then frozen.

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Serves: 4

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 30 min

Ingredients
350g firm small fresh cep mushrooms, (or 350g button or field mushrooms plus 25g dried porcini)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp Olive oil
55g Butter
350g Risotto rice
1.7 litres chicken stock, simmering
55g Parmesan, freshly grated